At this point, my Research Assistant partner and I have gotten used to the entire procedure. We’ve gotten used to our scripts. We are learning so much from our participants, and so many of them come from different backgrounds. Their different experiences really result in different reactions to the experiment. My favourite participants are the ones who come in initially very apprehensive, and then end up leaving as some of the most enthusiastic about virtual reality. Just yesterday, we had someone come in very shy and unconfident in their technology skills. She had seemed on the quieter side on the phone, and mentioned how she gets frustrated at TV remotes. By the end of the session, she had gotten so excited about virtual reality that she called their friend on the car ride home, raving about the experience. Less than 20 minutes after that participant had left the experiment room, I received a call from the friend asking about how she could sign up.

At the same time, I’ve begun a second wayfinding project with the lab. This has been really fun, as I had never considered studying what makes someone feel confused, or how good design can make or break someone’s experience in a building, but it makes perfect sense now. I got to go on a walk around the campus looking for wayfinding tasks, so I’m not complaining – campus is beautiful right now.

 

As I get into the swing of things, I find that I am enjoying the work more and more. The older adults are incredibly inspirational – many of them are still fully cognizant, well, and mobile, even at 82 years old. It really puts into perspective how one’s health is in their own hands. Every single person who has come in has a very unique personality, everyone from the shyest to the most extroverted, and I’ve noticed that many older people comment on how they shed their fear of judgement and left that behind with their more naive selves.

I was initially surprised by how many older people were willing to try something new, as I thought to myself how many people my age would be willing to look so silly in front of strangers. I told this to a participant yesterday, who asked me whether I would do it, at my current age. It was an interesting question to consider, as she told me that my answer now would not be so different from my answer at age 99. It’s an important limitation of the study, that we are biased towards people willing to try new things.

 

The below images show what the VR environment look like.

It’s so lovely to meet you all! My name is Angella, and I’m a sophomore Human Biology, Health and Society major. This past week, I began work at the Design and Augmented Intelligence Lab (DAIL) at Cornell, specifically their Virtual Reality Garden study with older adults.

The project itself is fascinating—essentially, we are introducing virtual reality to older adults and seeing how they feel using it, whether they can get used to the controls, if they will feel feel motion sickness, how the headset feels, etc. This is all with the goal of potentially using virtual reality as a therapeutic instrument for older adults who have mild cognitive impairments or mobility issues, so that they may still get “outside” in a virtual garden. We are seeing if participants still receive the cognitive and mood benefits of nature in a simulated environment.

So far, I have already become deeply involved in the study recruitment and data collection processes, making phone calls all day. My first week has left me pleasantly surprised by the participants. As I have had little experience working with older individuals, I did not expect them to have as much energy as they did. Many of our participants were vocal, willing to take risks, and try something new, at as old as 75, which is so impressive considering that virtual reality technology was not designed with their age group in mind. They were all kind and patient with themselves as they teleported into walls accidentally, pushed the button to move instead of grab an item, and dropped flowers on their side instead of planting them. I only hope to be as inspirational at their age.

Below is a photo of me, as I help fit a VR headset for a participant!